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-- South Asian News, November 12, 2002 --- (International)

The Pakistani Islamic alliance asks Musharaff to shed his military role in exchange for its support. In India, violence claims more lives in Kashmir and the riot-hit Gujarat state. Bill Gates promises $100 Mn in India for fight against AIDS while the editorial talks about his wooing of the Indian software writers in an attempt to reduce the support for thesource code movement.

Africa
-------

N/A

Americas
----------

* Bomb kills 13 police in Kashmir (Canada Broadcasting)
* Kashmir's new state government frees top separatist leader, Yasin Malik (Canada.com)
* Pakistani Taliban prisoners released in Kabul (Canada Broadcasting)
* Strike paralyses Kathmandu, army claims 27 rebels killed (The News Mexico)

Asia-Pacific
------------

* Pakistan seeks extradition of CIA killer (Australian Broadcasting)
* India hopes Iraq will abide by UN resolution, sanctions will be lifted (Xinhuanet)
* Pakistan hails UN resolution on Iraq (Australian Broadcasting)
* Musharraf refuses to give up military power (Australian Broadcasting) (Channel News Asia)
* India to expand nuclear power capacity (Xinhuanet)
* Violence claims 8 lives in India's Gujarat state (Xinhuanet) (Australian Broadcasting) (Channel News Asia)
* Gates donates RM380m to fight AIDS (Malaya Star) (Japan Today) (Australian Broadcasting) (Xinhuanet) (Channel News Asia)
* Indian police arrest hundreds of political activists at rally (Channel News Asia)
* 10 rebels gunned down in Nepal (Japan Today) (People Daily)
* 2 die, 60 injured in bus accident in Nepal (Xinhuanet)

Europe
------

* Musharraf's Islamist 'summit' (BBC)
* Violence mars Gujarat campaign (BBC)
* Freed Kashmir separatist defiant (BBC)
* India frees Kashmiri separatist in peace move (Independent)
* Tight security for India Sikh polls (BBC)
* Bombing in Kashmir kills 13 paramilitary police (Ananova)

Middle East
-----------

* India, US set to embark on new 'framework for tech transfer' (IRNA)
* Canada urges India to sign CTBT (IRNA)
* Musharraf in bid to end political crisis (Gulf News) (IRNA)
* India supports UN's new resolution on Iraq (IRNA)
* UN resolution to resolve Iraq inspection issue: Pakistan (IRNA)
* JKLF chief released on parole (Arab News) (IRNA)
* Kashmir Committee chief asks US to tighten screws on Pakistan (IRNA)
* 4 killed in Gujarat after BJP poll rally (Arab News)
* Witness to mall shootout can be jailed: Police (Arab News)
* Russian minister Ilya Klebanov to visit India (IRNA)
* Benazir calls for government of national unity (Gulf News)
* Leghari tries to see GNA is not left out in the cold (Gulf News)
* Pro-gov't alliance, Islamists share identical views on LFO issue (IRNA)
* India can be an example in dealing with AIDS: Bill Gates (IRNA)
* Vajpayee hits out at West for lecturing on human rights (IRNA)
* Asia Pacific Human Rights Network meet begins in New Delhi (IRNA)
* Strike paralyses life in Nepal, security forces kill 30 Maoists (IRNA)
* Lankan Marxists blamed for unrest (Gulf News)
* Hasina seeks weapons law waiver (Gulf News)

Editorial
---------

* Gates woos Indian software writers (International Herald Tribune)

Business/Technology
-------------------

* Microsoft to plough $400m into India (Reuters) (BBC) (Ananova)
* India's Wipro to buy American Management Sys unit (Reuters)

Africa
-------

N/A

Americas
----------

* Bomb kills 13 police in Kashmir

November 11 -- A roadside bomb explosion killed 13 police officers in Kashmir on Monday. The blast occurred as officials released a prominent separatist leader from prison. Police were riding in a truck along the main highway near the town of Ramsoo, about 200 kilometres from Srinigar when the bomb went off at the side of the road. Five police were wounded in addition to the 13 killed. The Hezb-ul Mujahedeen guerrilla group claimed responsibility for the attack. The Pakistan-based group is the largest militant organization fighting to separate Kashmir from India.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/11/kashmir021111

* Kashmir's new state government frees top separatist leader, Yasin Malik

November 11 -- Kashmir's new provincial government freed a prominent separatist leader from prison Monday as Islamic militants who also seek independence for Kashmir killed 13 parliamentary police in a bomb attack. Yasin Malik, an icon to thousands of Kashmiri youths, was released eight months after his arrest for allegedly laundering money to finance terrorism.

http://www.canada.com/news/story.asp?id={B7B8B5B7-F4F4-41C8-A9AB-7FE506D5825F}

* Pakistani Taliban prisoners released in Kabul

November 11 -- A small group of Pakistani men, captured while fighting for the Taliban, were released from a Kabul prison on Monday. The men, at least 12 of them, were to be handed over to the Pakistani Embassy and sent home. The men were among hundreds of Pakistanis taken prisoner during the Taliban's rapid collapse under U.S.-led air assaults, and ground advances by the Northern Alliance forces.

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2002/11/11/pakistani_afgha021111

* Strike paralyses Kathmandu, army claims 27 rebels killed

A general strike imposed by Maoist rebels in Nepal paralyzed the capital, Kathmandu, Monday but life continued as normal in other parts of the country, government and news media reported. The Home Ministry said the strike was generally peaceful and no major acts of violence took place. Meanwhile, the government issued a statement, claiming to have killed at least 17 alleged Maoists in different parts of the country during the past week. Quoting security sources, the independent Kantipur radio station also reported that at least 10 alleged Maoists were killed in an encounter in Khera forest in Baglung district, about 210 kilometers west of the capital, Monday.

http://www.thenewsmexico.com/noticia.asp?id=39651

Asia-Pacific
-------------

* Pakistan seeks extradition of CIA killer

A member of Pakistan's Fundamentalist Islamic Alliance has demanded the extradition of a man due to be executed in the United States later this week. The man was sentenced to death for murdering two CIA agents nine years ago. Mir Aimal Kansi was convicted in 1997 by a court in Virginia for the double murder of two agents outside the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency in 1993. After the murders, he escaped to Pakistan but was arrested in 1997 and extradited to the United States for trial. With his execution by lethal injection due on Thursday, the leader of a prominent fundamentalist Islamic party, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, or JUI, has demanded Mr Kansi's return to Pakistan to face trial by a local court.

http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s724605.htm

* India hopes Iraq will abide by UN resolution, sanctions will be lifted

November 11 -- India Monday hoped that Iraq would abide by the new UN Security Council resolution on disarming it and said sanctions against Baghdad should be lifted "in tandem" with full and effective compliance with relevant resolutions. An External Affairs Ministry spokesman told reporters, "We welcome the unanimous adoption of Resolution 1441 by the UN Security Council which provides for disarmament of Iraq as laid down in relevant resolutions and also reaffirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, Kuwait and neighboring states."

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-11/11/content_626277.htm

* Pakistan hails UN resolution on Iraq

Pakistan has hailed the UN's new resolution on Iraqi disarmament, saying that it would pave the way for an amicable solution. "We have always maintained that all issues should be resolved through negotiations, through dialogue peacefully and that UN Security Council resolutions should be implemented," foreign ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan told a regular press briefing. "We hope that because of this resolution the problem will be resolved amicably and to the satisfaction of all concerned," Mr Khan said, noting that it was unanimously adopted and mandatory on all member states.

http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s724325.htm

* Musharraf refuses to give up military power

Pakistan's new powerful alliance of fundamentalist Islamic parties has demanded that President Pervez Musharraf give up his military uniform, if he wants support in the Parliament. The Islamic Alliance will hold the balance of power in Pakistan's new legislature. Any majority will need the 59 seats of the Islamic Alliance, known as the MMA. But its leader Kazi Hussein Ahmed says that support will only be exchanged for General Musharraf's agreement to rule only as a civilian President.

http://abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s724362.htm
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/24319/1/.html

* India to expand nuclear power capacity

Indian Atomic Energy Commission Chairman Anil Kakodkar Monday said that the government plans to increase the share of nuclear power to five percent of the total installed power capacity by the end of the 11th five-year plan ). He told reporters in Bangalore that as part of the efforts to expand nuclear power generation, the two units of Kaiga (unit 3 and 4 of 220 mw each) would be completed by the year 2007. He said that unit 3 and 4 of the Tarapur Atomic Power Plant, each of 500 MW capacity, were expected to reach criticality by July 2006 and October 2005, respectively.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-11/12/content_626323.htm

* Violence claims 8 lives in India's Gujarat state

At least six people were killed and several others injured in violence in various parts of Gujaratin west India Monday, coinciding with the visit of the Election Commission to assess preparations for the Dec.12 polls. Two people were killed and four others injured when violence broke out Monday night near Gogh Maharaj temple in Dasad village in Unjha Taluka of Mehsana district in north Gujarat, police said. They said trouble started over the chasing of a mad dog. Members of one group provoked the other and indulged in stone pelting.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-11/12/content_626995.htm
http://abc.net.au/asiapacific/news/GoAsiaPacificBNA_725094.htm
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/24297/1/.html

* Gates donates RM380m to fight AIDS

Microsoft Corp Chairman Bill Gates announced yesterday a US$100mil (RM380mil) grant to battle HIV/AIDS in India, which has the world's second largest number of victims of the deadly disease. The announcement came at the start of a four-day visit by Gates to India. The donation was the largest single-country grant by his charity, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, a foundation spokeswoman said. A foundation statement said the India AIDS Initiative would work to provide mobile populations better access to proven HIV-prevention interventions.

http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2002/11/12/asia/deldav&sec=asia
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7&id=238054
http://abc.net.au/asiapacific/news/GoAsiaPacificBNA_724482.htm
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-11/11/content_626155.htm
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/24280/1/.html

* Indian police arrest hundreds of political activists at rally

Indian police have caned and arrested hundreds of political activists at a rally against the embattled government in northern Uttar Pradesh state. These protestors were backing a regional political party which has staked its claim to form a new government in the state. The party and its supporters have staged several rallies across the state, demanding the government's ouster. It claims it has enough support to oust the ruling state coalition, which includes the Hindu nationalist BJP. A loss of power in Uttar Pradesh, one of the few states where the BJP remains in office, could be a big setback for the party ahead of national elections in 2004.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/southasia/view/24303/1/.html

* 10 rebels gunned down in Nepal

Government troops on Monday gunned down 10 insurgents of the Nepal Communist Party (Maoist) in western Nepal as a general strike called by the party began to effect nationwide, government officials here said. The rebels were slain in Khara of the Baglung district, about 250 kilometers west of Kathmandu, in an hour-long firefight that began when they tried to ambush an army patrol of 40 soldiers.

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=7
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200211/12/eng20021112_106686.shtml

* 2 die, 60 injured in bus accident in Nepal

At least two people died and nearly 60 others were injured when a passenger bus fell into a river in central Nepal on Monday, police said. "At least two passengers died on the spot and nearly 60 people were injured when a passenger bus plying from Kathmandu to Janakpur fell into the Trishuli river near Salangghat in the central district of Dhading, 90 km west of Kathmandu," said a police officer who was quoted by the Rising Nepal newspaper Tuesday.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2002-11/12/content_626976.htm

Europe
--------

* Musharraf's Islamist 'summit'

Nov 11 -- Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf met for two hours on Monday with a senior leader of the six-party alliance of religious parties, Qazi Hussain Ahmed. Pakistan's constitutional crisis is far from over This was a bid to end the constitutional deadlock that is preventing the transfer of power to a civilian government.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2444063.stm

* Violence mars Gujarat campaign

Ahmedabad,India -- Five people have died in Hindu-Muslim clashes in India's Gujarat state on the first day of campaigning for next month's assembly elections.The deaths in Mahudha, a town north-west of the commercial capital, Ahmedabad, came as Chief Minister Narendra Modi took to the hustings.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2440583.stm

* Freed Kashmir separatist defiant

A leading separatist freed from jail in Indian-administered Kashmir has rejected an olive branch from the state's new government. In his first public comments since being released on Monday, Yasin Malik accused newly-elected Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed of "double-speak". He condemned the chief minister's offer of an amnesty for militants, and criticised India's reluctance to hold talks with Pakistan, which also lays claim to Kashmir.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2447751.stm

* India frees Kashmiri separatist in peace move

India freed one of Kashmir's top separatist leaders yesterday, eight months after he was jailed under hotly disputed anti-terrorism laws.The release of Yasin Malik, pin-up for thousands of young anti-India Kashmiris, was seen as an attempt by Jammu and Kashmir's new state government to end the stalemate in the troubled Himalayan region.

http://www.independent.co.uk/story.jsp?story=351304

* Tight security for India Sikh polls

Police in the northern Indian state of Punjab have thrown a security cordon around the holiest Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple in the city of Amritsar. The move comes ahead of elections on Tuesday to the faith's highest religious body, the SGPC ( the Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee) which wields sweeping powers and influence across the Sikh diaspora.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2443083.stm

* Bombing in Kashmir kills 13 paramilitary police

Nov 11 -- Suspected Islamic militants have set off a bomb along the main road into India's Kashmir state, killing 13 paramilitary police.At least five others have been injured.The men were travelling in a truck near the town of Ramsoo, when the bomb went off and threw the truck into a ditch, said Neeraj Kumar, spokesman for India's Border Security Force.

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_707255.html

Middle East
-------------

* India, US set to embark on new 'framework for tech transfer'

November 11 -- A whole decade after the US slammed the door on the transfer of dual-use technology to India, both countries are set to embark on a new framework that is expected to end the ban, local media here reported on Monday. Over next days, US assistant secretary for commerce, Kenneth Juster will hold a path breaking dialogue with India's Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha to discuss setting up a high technology cooperation group to 'streamline and update' the transfer of high technology from the US to India.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Canada urges India to sign CTBT

Canada urged India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) and the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and offered to mediate to resolve differences between India and Pakistan. Canadian Minister of Natural Resources Herb Dhaliwal said here on Monday: "Canada wants India to sign CTBT and NPT. India's signing will put into action what the country has been talking about so long". Referring to Canada's position with regard to Indo-Pak situation, Dhaliwal said, "Canada has made it known that it is always ready to help the two countries to ease the tension between them."

http://www.irna.com/en/head/.ehe.shtml

* Musharraf in bid to end political crisis

Pakistani President General Pervez Musharraf held a two-hour meeting here yesterday with the parliamentary leader of influential Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) religious alliance on the country's post-election political crisis, official sources said. The meeting with Qazi Hussain Ahmed focussed on the political situation, constitutional amendments, transfer of power and other related issues, the sources said. A senior official in Ahmed's Jamaat-e-Islami party said the MMA leader placed before the president the stand of the religious alliance that the Legal Framework Order containing the constitutional amendments should be presented to the parliament for its decision. He informed Musharraf that MMA was willing to validate him as civilian president if he quit his uniform and agreed to the demands of the alliance with regard to the LFO, he added.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=68261
http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* India supports UN's new resolution on Iraq

India on Tuesday hoped that Iraq would abide by the new UN Security Council resolution on disarming it and said sanctions against Baghdad should be lifted "in tandem" with full and effective compliance of relevant resolutions. India's External Affairs Ministry spokesman told reporters Monday evening that "we welcome the unanimous adoption of Resolution 1441 by the UN Security Council which provides for disarmament of Iraq as laid down in relevant resolution and also reaffirm the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq, Kuwait and neighboring states".

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* UN resolution to resolve Iraq inspection issue: Pakistan

November 11 -- Pakistan Monday hoped that the Iraq inspectors' issue would be resolved amicably after passage of a recent unanimous resolution by the U.N Security Council. "Pakistan has always maintained that all issues should be resolved through negotiations and that UN resolutions should be implemented," Foreign Office spokesman told reporters in Islamabad. Asked about possibility of talks with India, Aziz Ahmed Khan said Pakistan has already expressed its willingness to hold dialogue on all outstanding issues.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* JKLF chief released on parole

Senior separatist leader and chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), Yasin Malik, who was arrested nine months ago under an anti-terrorist law, arrived here yesterday afternoon after he was released on a month's parole. A number of JKLF activists, including acting chairman Javed Mir, were present at Srinagar airport to receive Yasin, but he was whisked away in a police vehicle to the counter-intelligence headquarters in the high security zone of the city for competing the formalities.

http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=20297
http://www.irna.com/en/head/.ehe.shtml

* Kashmir Committee chief asks US to tighten screws on Pakistan

November 11 -- India's Kashmir Committee chairman Ram Jethmalani has asked the US to play a 'meaningful role' on resolution of the Kashmir issue, local media reported on Monday. According to the Hindustan Times, a New Delhi-based English daily, this role in Jethmalani view, is not one of mediation, but one in which the US should really 'tighten the screws' on Pakistan. Jethmalani said in Washington on Sunday that 'the Americans should prevail on the Musharraf regime to give up its aggressive and extremist approach on Kashmir. It's time the Pakistanis stopped talking of plebiscite in Kashmir. The US should ask them if they will be ready to hold a plebiscite in their own provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan'.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* 4 killed in Gujarat after BJP poll rally

Communalism again reared its ugly head in the western state of Gujarat when four people were killed in the state yesterday shortly after Chief Minister Narendra Modi held a reelection rally in a sensitive area, police said. Two Hindus were stabbed to death after an election rally in the Kheda district and a bomb later destroyed a shop in the same area, killing the owner and injuring his son. Another body with stab wounds was found on a highway in Kheda but police were not sure if the victim was a Hindu or a Muslim, they said. Kheda is 80 km south of Gujarat's commercial capital Ahmedabad.

http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=20301

* Witness to mall shootout can be jailed: Police

Embarrassed by the claims of a doctor that the shootout at the Ansal Plaza shopping mall was stage-managed, police yesterday said they could take legal action against him for not coming forward to record his statement. Police officers are tight-lipped about the latest disclosure of Hari Krishna - that a senior police officer advised him on telephone not to speak about the incident and that he had tapes to prove it. But a police source said they could take legal action against the doctor, who claims to have witnessed the incident on Nov. 3 in which police killed two suspected militants.

http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=20300

* Russian minister Ilya Klebanov to visit India

November 11 -- Ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India, senior Russian minister Ilya Klebanov is coming to New Delhi to discuss the ongoing military and economic arrangements between the two countries, local media reports on Monday. Klebanov, who is arriving on November 20, will take part in the meetings of the two inter-governmental commissions of the two countries. Klebanov is co-chairman of the inter-governmental commissions on military and technical cooperation and on economic issues. His visit is basically intended for military negotiations.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Benazir calls for government of national unity

Pakistan needs a government of national unity to overcome the political crisis created by the emergence of a hung parliament, former prime minister Benazir Bhutto said yesterday. "In the existing situation a government of national unity is the only way to get out of the crisis," the PPP leader said in an interview from Washington to a domestic private television channel. Bhutto blamed the military government for the split mandate in the October 10 elections, saying it had wanted and planned to bring about a fractured assembly.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=68262

* Leghari tries to see GNA is not left out in the cold

Former president Farooq Ahmed Khan Leghari, although having dropped out voluntarily from the race for prime minister, has been focusing on ensuring that the Grand National Alliance (GNA) plays a part in the future government and it is not left out in the cold. Leghari is head of the pro-government GNA of five small parties and has in fact been playing a key role in recent negotiations involving the PML-QA. Sources also say his mediation has "helped build bridges with the MMA", and that he has proved "very useful" due to his standing and experience.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=68259

* Pro-gov't alliance, Islamists share identical views on LFO issue

The National Alliance's Secretary-General Mohammed Ali Durrani on Tuesday said that the Grand National Alliance and Mutahida Majlis-e Amal share almost identical views on the Legal Framework Order (LFO) issue. "In recent days, the GNA and MMA have come closer to each other and the most controversial issue, the LFO, is no more a hurdle in their efforts to more forward hand in hand," he told IRNA here.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* India can be an example in dealing with AIDS: Bill Gates

India, with its right initiatives, can become an example for the world in showing how to deal with the AIDS "epidemic," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said here. Gates made those comments while visiting the office of a non-governmental organization (NGOs) `Naz India' here on Monday. He also participated in a training program on creating awareness on AIDS.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Vajpayee hits out at West for lecturing on human rights

Hitting out at the West for lecturing to developing countries on how to promote human rights, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee Monday evening said that there cannot be any justification for the excesses and injustice perpetrated by the state machinery. According to an IRNA reporter, Vajpayee while inaugurating the Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions here also said that "without accountability, agencies of the state can misuse their authority and infringe on the rights of citizens, especially those who are poor and weak."

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Asia Pacific Human Rights Network meet begins in New Delhi

November 11 -- Theng ceremony of Asia Pacific Human Rights Network (APHRN), a forum of NGOs began their deliberations here Monday morning. According to the IRNA reporter, the forum precedes the official 7th annual meeting of three-day Asia Pacific Forum of National Human Rights Institutions which will be inaugurated later this evening by India's Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Strike paralyses life in Nepal, security forces kill 30 Maoists

Normal life was disrupted in several parts of Nepal on Tuesday on the second day of a general strike which was called by Maoists on Monday as Nepalese Security forces gunned down 13 Maoists taking the toll to 30 in the latest crackdown against the rebels across Nepal, local media reported on Tuesday. The capital Kathmandu virtually came to a standstill with schools and business establishments remaining closed today with a three-day general strike.

http://www.irna.com/en/world/.ewo.shtml

* Lankan Marxists blamed for unrest

The ruling United National Front (UNF) government has blamed a Marxist party in Sri Lanka for trying to create unrest in the country similar to an uprising against the then government in the late 1980s which claimed over 60,000 lives. Minister of Interior John Amaratunga making a statement in Parliament yesterday blamed the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (People's Liberation Front) for attempting to create violence in the country leading to unrest and disturbing the current peace process.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=68271

* Hasina seeks weapons law waiver

A petition was filed yesterday for exempting Leader of the Opposition Sheikh Hasina from surrendering her licensed firearms on the grounds of personal security. Her secretary Nazrul Islam filed an application to the Home Ministry stating that the opposition leader had three licensed arms - .12-bore shotgun, .32-bore revolver and .22-bore rifle for personal security. "If the arms are deposited, the personal security of Sheikh Hasina would be compromised," said the application stated. It cited recent attacks on Hasina in northern Naogaon district on March 4 and southern Satkhira district on August 30 this year.

http://www.gulf-news.com/Articles/news.asp?ArticleID=68272

Editorial
---------

* Gates woos Indian software writers

Taking the case for Windows software to a crucial audience, Microsoft Corp.'s chairman, Bill Gates, began a four-day tour of India on Monday. This country has an estimated half-million individual software developers, many of them writing programs for some of the world's largest corporations. Gates's visit, his third to India, comes as programmers around the world are being lured to join the so-calledsource computing movement, which favors the Linux operating system - available free or in low-cost software packages - over proprietary systems like Microsoft Windows. "India is a big bet for Microsoft," Rajiv Kaul, Microsoft's managing director in India, said last month in announcing Gates' visit. "India's unbeatable developer strength has ensured that we are in the top slot for Microsoft globally."

http://www.iht.com/articles/76641.html

Business/Technology
---------------------

* Microsoft to plough $400m into India

Software behemoth Microsoft is to invest $400m (Ј252m) to expand its activities and promote technology development in India. The announcement comes as Billl Gates, the company's chairman, is touring India on a trip mixing business with philanthropy.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=HZ32J4AMBVB4ACRBAE0CFFA?type=search&StoryID=1719075
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2447285.stm
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_707758.html?menu=news.latestheadlines.worldnews

* India's Wipro to buy American Management Sys unit

November 11 -- Software bellwether Wipro Ltd WIPR.BO said on Tuesday it has struck a deal to acquire the global energy practice of American Management Systems AMSY.O for $26 million in cash. The global energy practice of the U.S.-based technology consulting firm has a team of 90 domain experts and consultants across the United States and Europe, a statement from Wipro said. The acquisition brings to Wipro more than 50 clients and ongoing projects for 15 customers, the statement said. "We expect the acquisition to be completed by December," J.Shankar, corporate treasurer at Wipro, told Reuters.

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml;jsessionid=HZ32J4AMBVB4ACRBAE0CFFA?type=search&StoryID=1717637

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